Visitor and Short-term Study Visas

Brunel University London offers a number of English Language courses called English@Brunel. It is possible to apply for Visitor or a Short-term Study Visa to study on one of these courses.

If the course is less than six months long, you should apply for a Visitor visa. 

If the course is between six months and eleven months long, you should apply for a Short-term Study Visa. Please note that the Short-term Study Visa can only be used to study an English Language course. It cannot be used for any other type of course. 

If you receive an offer of a place on an English@Brunel course, you will be informed in your offer email that you should apply for a Visitor or Short-term Study Visa. You will not need to apply for a Student visa and we will not send you a CAS.

You will need to supply your offer letter from Brunel University London in the application. You may also need to provide other documents such as your qualifications and financial evidence that you can support yourself in the UK for the duration of your studies. For detailed information, please visit the UKVI website.

You should only apply for a Visitor visa if you are coming to study at Brunel University London as a visiting research student or on an exchange programme for six months or less.

If you are coming to study an English@Brunel programme, you should also only apply for a Visitor/Short-term Study Visa for English courses that are less than 47 weeks long. You also should not apply for a Visitor or Short-term Study Visa if you are planning to start another course of study with us as soon as the English course finishes. This is because you cannot 'switch' from a Visitor/Short-term Study Visa to a Student visa from inside the UK - you must return and apply from your home country.

You do not need to apply for a Visitor or Short-term Study Visa if you are coming to study a Pre-sessional English course. We will issue you with a CAS so that you can apply for a Student visa. You can then extend this in the UK to cover your following degree course. The only exception to this is if you cannot meet the Student visa requirements, in which case yo may have to use the Visitor/Short-term Study visa option.

Nationals of some countries do not necessarily need to apply for a Visitor visa before travelling to the UK to study for six months or less. Please visit the UKVI website and refer to 'Appendix 2 - Visa National List'. If you are of a nationality that is not listed, it would not be compulsory for you to apply for a Visitor visa before you travel. Instead, when you arrive at the port of entry, you can explain that you have travelled to the UK to study and you may be asked to supply evidence of this, for example, your University offer letter. It is therefore important to ensure that you carry this documentation with you in your hand luggage. If you are not sure whether or not you will need to make the visa application before you travel, then you can use the 'Do I need a visa?' service on the UKVI website for more help.

If you do this, it is also very important to check that the Border Force Officer has granted you the correct type of endorsement stamp in your passport before you leave the Officer's desk. It may cause problems with your registration at Brunel if you are mistakenly granted leave to enter the UK under another category. 

Although not compulsory for non-visa nationals, we do still recommend that you apply for the Visitor visa before you travel to the UK (permission to enter). This reduces any risk of you experiencing any problems at the UK border. You will still need to apply for entry clearance (visa) before you travel if you are going to study an English@Brunel course that is between six and eleven months in duration, and use the Short-term Study route. 

In addition to the above, note that nationals of some countries will now be required to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in order to travel to the UK. At present, this applies to nationals of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. However, by April 2025, all visitors who do not need a visa for short stays up to six months, will need  Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) – a digital permission to travel to the UK.

Therefore the ETA scheme is being expanded in early 2025. From 8 January 2025, all eligible non-Europeans will need an ETA to travel to the UK. From 2 April 2025, this will also apply to all eligible Europeans. 

An ETA is not a visa/immigration status, but permission to travel to the UK. If applicable, you may need one if you are coming to the UK as a visitor and do not need a visa to do (please see section above on non-visa nationals). Note that you do not need to apply for an ETA if you have a visa to come to the UK. 

If you are a national that qualifies to use an electronic passport gate at the airport (EU/EEA/Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the USA), you will be allowed to enter via an electronic passport gate. This confers permission to enter as a Visitor.

You may also apply for a Visitor visa if you are coming to study at Brunel University on an exchange programme (such as part of the Erasmus or Study Abroad partnerships) or as a visiting research student for a period of six months or less. Please be advised that this is not suitable if your programme of study is for more than six months. In this case you may need to make a Student visa application. A Visitor visa is also not appropriate if you are part of an Erasmus internship programme as you with be coming to Brunel University to engage in work experience. It is also not appropriate if you are a visiting academic coming to Brunel to collaborate in professional research (i.e. it is not contributing to your PhD course). A Visitor visa does not permit any work in the UK. 

If you choose to enter the UK as a visitor or for short-term study, you must ensure that you comply with the Immigration Rules for visitors. Importantly, please note that you are expected to leave the UK either within 30 days of the end of your course of study or  before your immigration permission expires, whichever is sooner. Please also note that any form of employment in the UK is prohibited in the UK as a Standard Visitor. 

Please note that you cannot register on a course at Brunel University that is longer than six months as it won't be covered by a Standard Visitor Visa/Immigration Status. Please also note that, as work is prohibited, you would not be able to register on a course that includes a work placement (even if the course is less than six months). If either of these apply, you may need to apply for a Student visa.